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“My weapons connection pulled out on me,” Sean said. “Didn’t give me a good reason, either. I can only assume that you or one of your idiots are putting their claws in my business.”

“What you do can’t be called business,” I said. “You wouldn’t know how to close a deal if one slapped you in the face, let alone build actual business relationships. It’s not hard to get your connections to change their tune.”

“You’re going to pay for this,” Sean snarled.

“I doubt it. These deals aren’t going to end well for you if you keep this shit up.”

“All I needed was the confirmation that you were the one who fucked this up,” Sean said. “You think that’s the only connection I have? That little jerkoff Castille?”

“Honestly? Yeah, I do. Who else are you going to call? Levi?”

Sean’s eyes narrowed, and he bared his teeth like a wild animal. No fangs yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they popped out. “I don’t need a damn thing from that wolf.”

“I’d hope not, since he dropped you like a bad habit,” I said.

“I kicked him out,” Sean snarled. I didn’t need my dragon’s powers to know that was an obvious lie. Everyone was leaving Sean behind, and he was quickly running out of options.

“All right,” I said. I was done with Sean’s games.

Time to poke the dragon until he issued the challenge.

“Here’s the deal. I know your whole clan —if you can even call it that—has turned on you.

Levi was the first to leave, and everyone else left soon after, right?

Getting your hands on Harley was your last chance at taking the clan from me.

And after what you did, you can be damn sure you’re never getting your hands on her or my son ever again.

It’s time for you to give it up, Sean. You’re never getting Lakeview.

You were never even close. I’m the alpha, and you’re the failure. Accept it.”

I expected that to make Sean flash his fangs or his claws—or at least see his dragon behind his eyes. Instead, there was an unnerving lack of reaction. Sean smirked at me, then sighed and tipped his head back with a dramatic flourish. “You know, Ace, I didn’t want it to come to this.”

I said nothing, which clearly annoyed him. “I tried to get you to give me the clan, as is my birthright, and when you wouldn’t accept that, I tried to execute a fair trade. So now, I’m going to have to do it by force.”

Finally . I clenched my hands into fists at my side. Finally, he was going to initiate the challenge, and I would be able to end this once and for all, right here in this clearing.

“I’m getting rid of you for good,” Sean said.

Say it, I thought viciously. My dragon gnashed his teeth. Challenge me.

“I’m sending you back to prison. For good, this time.”

My dragon deflated. “What?”

“You heard me,” Sean said with a triumphant grin. He looked like a kid who’d just won a game at the state fair. “I’ve got photos, Ace. Photos of your guys hiding corpses from the police.”

I rubbed my forehead. I knew exactly what Sean was referring to: the men at the Michel’s that Sean and his lackeys had killed. “You always have some stupid bullshit up your sleeve, don’t you?”

Sean flashed his fangs. “This ‘stupid bullshit’ is going to get you locked up for at least a decade. And when you’re gone, I’ll be there to fill the alpha void.”

“You couldn’t last time, so why would that work now?” I shot back. “Plus, you don’t have pictures of me. You have pictures of my guys.”

“Which will get you locked up for organizing it,” Sean said.

“No, it won’t. My guys would never throw me under the bus like that. I know that’s difficult for you to understand since you’ve never been worthy of any real loyalty.”

I’d never let my guys take the fall for me, especially if it would lead to years in prison, but Sean didn’t need to know that.

And he’d never assume it, anyway. In his world, that’s what clan members were for—to protect the alpha—when in reality, it was the alpha’s job to protect everyone else.

It was another fundamental misunderstanding that made him incapable of leading.

“You don’t know that,” Sean snarled.

“Yes, he does,” Striker said with his arms crossed over his chest. “Don’t be fucking stupid, Sean.”

“You’re the one who killed those men,” I continued. “If anything, you’re the one who should be afraid. Those pictures will lead to a new investigation, and my guys will be more than happy to tell the Lakeview police exactly what happened that night.”

“You’ll be the one locked up, Sean,” Hawk said. His voice was much softer and sadder than Striker’s. I knew this was killing him slowly. Like me, he wanted this to be over. Sean kept digging himself a deeper and deeper grave.

If Sean decided to take those photos to the police, it was more than likely that we’d win a court case, but it wouldn’t be good press for us, especially now that the brewery was starting to take off. The last thing I needed was bad press about murders when we’d finally gone straight.

I had to keep poking at his weak spots to get him to challenge me.

“You want your own clan, right? And you’ll never be happy here in Lakeview with my clan so nearby. So, how about we give you a little seed money, and you get the hell out of here and build yourself a clan somewhere else?”

“You think that’s what I want?” Sean snarled. “You think I’d accept a little charity from you and then run off with my tail between my legs like that coward Levi?”

“If you wanted a clan so badly, you’d accept,” I said.

“I don’t want any goddamn clan. I want my clan. Lakeview. And I’m going to bring you to your knees to get it back.”

“I’d be happy to see you try,” I said. “If you want to be the alpha of my clan, you know what you have to do.”

I held my hands open at my side and bared my teeth, flashing my fangs at him. Challenge me, my dragon roared inside me. Do it!

Sean’s gaze narrowed. The scent of fear was still thick in the air, but it wasn’t coming from Sean, only the two trembling gym rats flanking him.

Despite the rage pouring off Sean, I knew he wasn’t going to challenge me.

Not like this, when he had no real backup.

If anything, he’d lose his shit and try to kill me without challenging me.

If he did that, the clan would go to Dylan.

Sean was trapped. He wouldn’t challenge me, but he couldn’t attack me, either.

All he could do was turn tail and run, just like he always did.

An idea flickered to life in my mind. If he had no other options, and no clan…

What was stopping me from taking him into clan custody?

If I could subdue Sean now, I could take him back to the clubhouse and lock him up in one of the drunk tanks in the cellar.

After a day or two of that, he’d be worn down enough to challenge me.

Beating him wouldn’t be difficult, not when I had Hawk and Striker on my side, and Sean only had these two terrified goons.

Grinning, I took a step forward. This would work.

BOOM!

An explosion behind us sent me stumbling forward. The ground rattled with the force of it, and orange flames and black smoke leaped up into the night sky. I heard Hawk and Striker shouting in confusion as I was knocked off balance. I rolled onto my back and scrambled to my feet.

Flames leaped out of my Cadillac’s shattered windshield like bright orange tongues.

“That doesn’t look good,” Striker said from the dirt next to me. “And with that old gas tank…”

“Get back here!” Hawk shouted. He took off in the other direction, running after the distant shapes of the two burly men Sean had hired. Sean himself was nowhere to be seen. Had he already shifted and flown off in the chaos? Where the fuck was he?

The fire crackled and leaped higher into the air.

“We need to move,” Striker said. “ Now.”

“Shit!” The two of us took off into the woods, following Hawk. We made it a short distance down the narrow path, and then a louder explosion cracked through the air, sending us down to the dirt again. In the distance, sirens began to wail.

“Well, at least the fire department’s on the way,” I said.

“Last thing we need on the clan record is a wildfire,” Striker agreed.

Hawk jogged back down the path, looking intensely irritated. “Those two meatheads are gone,” he said. “So is Sean. They had all this planned.”

“Of course they did,” I said with a sigh.

“Why didn’t he challenge you?” Striker asked. “This was the perfect time.”

“Because he knows he’d lose,” Hawk said.

I nodded. “I don’t know if he’ll ever issue a challenge. He’s too far gone. I think his goals might be different now.”

“What do you think he wants?” Striker asked.

“I think he wants to destroy the clan,” I said, “and take me down with it.”